It was pure agony as I pounded the keyboard with each fingertip.

It was 3 am in the morning on a Saturday. Instead of reveling in a well-deserved night of decadence, I was struggling to complete my Mid-term paper.

Mid-term exam? 3 am on a Saturday morning?

My whole world was revolutionised the moment the document was posted on IVLE.(damn to the exceeding convenience!)

This is clearly another phase in the well-constructed chamber of torment the school has coerced us to go through. Not content with putting us through torturous 8am examinations, and excruciating battles with the post-lunch Z-monster while attempting the afternoon papers, now we even have to struggle with disciplining ourselves to complete exams at home. At home! An outright sacrilege for our temple of sanctity!

In our earlier years of compulsory education, the line was clearly drawn. All work and no play made Jack a seriously unpopular boy. There should always be a time to recuperate from academic trauma, a time for mindless frivolity and a time to mend already broken relationships.

Mastering the ability to sustain from 8 am to 6 pm all day at school would put Attila's tribe of barbarians to shame. Not only do we have to stay alert at painfully monotonous lectures, we even have to put on our 'bitch' armors in the pursuit of participation points in tutorials. And the day does not end there.

No, the 'students have it too easy', the faculty staff sniggers.

The minute I enter the doorway of my home, I whip out my laptop, plug in my adapter and check my emails, print my lecture handouts, and download my required readings. I have mastered so such efficiency at multi-tasking that Jennifer Garner could have picked up a trick or two. In all that hastiness, I became oblivious - I have morphed into a slave of Technology.

The first step in inducing such helpless dependency was the varsity's unrestrained efforts at encouraging laptop ownership where students are offered interest-free loans to buy laptops from the school. The varsity library has many computer terminals as well to cater to students' needs. Lectures are presented either in .ppt .html .avi .swf and miscellaneous file extensions. What irks me the most is their attempt at depriving us from smelling the sweet aroma of old journal paper - now that journals have become 'e-journals' and only available online.

I am a 'slave' because this integration of Technology made me excessively dependent on it. I render myself futile without my mobile phone-because it is essentially my organiser, my contact list, my camera, not forgetting--my phone; I would be equally defunct as a University student without my laptop and wireless internet connection.

Despite the many grouses I have with technological serfdom, the benefits are undeniable. You probably have to be from an Amish family secluded in the hazy mountainous regions of Sumatra to not notice the excessive infiltration of Technology into our varsities. If we refuse to learn how to use Technology, our learning experience would be infinitely hindered. "It (IT) has opened up many opportunities for us, for our economy, lots of jobs which Singaporeans can do, and broader benefits for the whole economy." said PM Lee at the National Day Rally Speech this year, Thus, young people like us have to be prepared for this "new age".

True enough, varsity students are undoubtedly well-prepared for this "new age" after being weaned on an intensive technologically-infused academia diet. However, where should we draw the line at integration?

Back in the good ol' days, after 7pm meant Rest & Relax till work starts again the next weekday morning. However, with the advent of email and shared web server systems, we've lost the right to make excuses to idle after a hard day's work. Saturdays and Sundays used to be days for much-needed loafing around. Now, our weekends are lost because we have to complete take-home examinations over the weekends. If we do not hand it in on time, boo hoo to you.

I've all along assumed that convenience was meant to increase efficiency, in order to generate more free time for us. Was I wrong to expect that?

So where exactly should we draw the line on integration?